Victoria Gates
Captain Victoria Gates is a high-ranking NYPD officer, previously in charge of the 12th Precinct's homicide division. Character History She was formerly with the Department of Internal Affairs, earning the name "Iron Gates" for her uncompromising personality. She cares little for unorthodox tactics and prefers to play by the book under nearly all circumstances. She was transferred to the 12th Precinct as the new captain, replacing Roy Montgomery after his death in the line of duty. She has a strong dislike for Castle, on policy grounds and also due to their clashing personalities. Gates doesn't believe a novelist should be working in the precinct, to begin with. She takes a dim view of his theorizing; in her mind, he simply throws out all kinds of zany ideas until something sticks. While his antics are entertaining to her officers, they are a needless distraction which impedes their effectiveness. His tendency to "go rogue" infuriates her. Gates would ban Castle from her precinct if she could; however, his friendship with the mayor forces her to tolerate him until she can find a way to rid herself of him. Gates' father was also a police officer, as were her uncles. She believes fervently in the mission of the police, but is also very alert to corruption and malfeasance; as she explained once to Beckett, her patrol partner was assaulted by a police sergeant who was able to hide behind his authority. This drove her to work for Internal Affairs. Gates believes that cops must be held to a higher standard than the populace they police, making her, perhaps, the answer to Juvenal's eternal question "Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes (But who watches the watchmen themselves)?" ("Dial M for Mayor") Gates was furious by misconduct on the part of Esposito and Beckett and, after saving their lives with a response team, suspended them both. ("Always") While a skilled administrator, she is alert to the political implications of her decisions. She noted to Beckett that she was the second youngest female to be promoted to Detective, Beckett having beaten her by six weeks ("Rise"), and explaining that "someone's always keeping score". When the team discovered that Officer Ann Hastings moonlighted as vigilante Lone Vengeance, Beckett speculated that Gates's motives for keeping this information secret were to avoid a scandal for herself and the precinct. ("Heroes and Villains") Her motives in pressing Beckett to get a warrant on the Mayor was initially more ambiguous ("Dial M for Mayor"), creating debate about whether was she attempting to undermine the Mayor to eliminate Castle from the precinct, even working with the conspiracy that was framing him, or simply determined to uncover the facts regardless of political considerations. However, considering that she later expressed complete ignorance of the conspiracy, she was most likely motivated by a determination to expose the truth. By the time that Castle and Beckett have embarked on a secret relationship, Gates appeared to have come to accept Castle's presence on the team, eventually telling the two that she would let them continue their relationship when they had kept it secret in case Castle was dismissed due to the potential for his presence to compromise Kate's objectivity ("Still"). Even when Beckett was temporarily out of work after being fired from her new role at Homeland Security, Gates permitted Castle to take point in an investigation where a hostage taker specifically asked for him to come and talk to her, subsequently agreeing to let him work as Beckett's partner after she was reinstated at the precinct ("Number One Fan"). During the case of the murder of a Wall Street trader, Gates is revealed to have a sister named Elizabeth who is the United States Attorney for the Southern District. Castle and Beckett are able to identify the killer as one of the people working for Elizabeth who has a noticeable tension with Gates throughout the case. Gates explains that in 1998 while she was in Internal Affairs and Elizabeth was in the DA's office, they called themselves the Dynamic Duo. However, Gates had discovered that the cop Elizabeth was building her case around was stealing heroin from it and reselling the drugs. Though Elizabeth begged Gates to look the other way and not ruin her case, Gates did her job and their relationship hasn't been the same since. Once the case is over, Elizabeth asks Gates to get a drink with her, stating that after the day she had she could really use one and her sister. Gates agrees and the siblings embrace before heading out together. ("The Greater Good"). Quotes from Victoria Gates :Gates: If my mother drops by you can call her Ma'am, call me Sir or Captain. ("Rise") :Gates: (to Beckett) We... are tasked by the city of New York to protect its people. Sometimes that task comes with a cost. I know what they call me, detective, Iron Gates. I hear the whispers. She's from IA. She must hate cops. Well, the truth is, I love cops. My daddy was a cop. My uncles were cops. But the sergeant who assaulted my patrol partner under the color or authority... who holds him accountable? We do. Go to the mayor, get him to voluntarily surrender his coat for fiber testing without a warrant. Tell him it's the only way to keep it out of the media. But if he refuses, you get that warrant and you do your job, whatever the cost. ("Dial M for Mayor") Trivia *Gates is a collector of Gemini dolls. ("Secret's Safe with Me") *It is revealed in Still that Gates has known about Castle and Beckett's relationship all along, despite the two trying to keep it a secret from her. She pretended not to know due to plausible deniability so she didn't have to do anything official about it. *Gates often encouraged Beckett to cut ties from Castle during her police work, believing that Beckett can do better without "distractions". Also seen in Heartbreak Hotel. Inversely, Captain Montgomery believed that Castle brought out the best of talents in Beckett, saying how she often stressed herself out during her work and overdid herself, never having any fun, and that Castle is what balanced her out. However, her opinion has changed over time as after having to reluctantly fire Castle and being reluctant to let him help with the Jerry Tyson case, Gates used the situation to get Castle his job back. She also told off Ryan and Esposito for whining about missing Castle and Beckett's wedding, showing in the process that she's happy for them. *A fan of Wives of Wall Street. *Mentioned that when she was getting married, she got so nervous she ran into a wall and ended up with a black eye. *While Gates didn't like Castle at first, she was impressed by his staying with Beckett in Still even when he could've been killed with her a bomb. References External Links *Captain Victoria Gates Bio - Castle at ABC *Captain Victoria Gates at CastleTV.net Wiki Gates, Victoria Gates, Victoria Gates, Victoria Gates, Victoria